How do you choose your color palettes?

[VikingChick]

I’m really struggling with choosing good sets of colors for my soaps. I pick colorants and group them together in ways that I think will be nice/fun/pretty, then when the soap is done, they look…..meh. Often they look like they were just randomly thrown together. Some of y’all come up with these beautiful color schemes, and they’re often things I’d never think of. I know about the color wheel, of course (analogous/complementary colors and all that) but do you use it in certain ways that’s unique? Do you have other ways of being inspired? Do you find yourself blending the colorants you have into custom colors? Any other tips?

 

[katili]

Sometimes I go looking up color palettes to get ideas. I don't always get exact matches but it can help get the wheels spinning. I did that for a striped soap challenge I did. Here's an example. I do also sometimes have to mix colors to get what I want, which can be a lot of fun.

 

[Relle]

Sometimes picking the scent first is a good idea - the lavender flower is mauve or can be purple, sometimes pink, your not likely to colour lavender orange. My last one in the challenge the colours were based on a theme, it was fire., your also not likely to make a beach soap in yellows, oranges, (although they would work for sand or sunset)so think of colours of the ocean to put together-greens,blues,white turquoise. Colours of the same tone always work together-shades of pink, greens into teals. So I would pick a theme, then scent to match in with it first, then try and think of colours that would go with that.
Get some coloured pencils and just randomly colour squares of different colours that you like and see if they work. Another option, get some paint sample cards and fiddle around with those.
I'm use to putting colours together as it was part of my job.

 

[A-Polly]

There are various apps that will extract color palettes from photos automatically. Here is one from Canva:
https://www.canva.com/colors/color-palette-generator/but I imagine there are free ones as well. I have access to the Adobe suite, because I need it for my job anyway, but don't often generate palettes this way (although maybe I should!).

@katili those are very pretty colors, and lovely soaps!

 

[dibbles]

Color can be such a struggle. Coupled with my need to have the colors make sense in my mind with the fragrance. Coupled with depending on the technique if I want high contrast or analogous colors. Coupled with there are some colors I just don't want to put together.

Personally, I tend to stay away from neons and almost always have some amount of white in my soaps. A little black goes a long way. I will open my mica jars and look at colors together because I am a very visual learner. Doing this does help me come up with a plan. One of my favorite combinations I created doing this is white, black (less of this), sky blue and moss/olive green. I never would have put them together just from thinking about it.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I usually let the FO guide me. Today I made a soap using golden Pear and White Rose FO, so I coloured the main part of the batch with yellow mica ('golden pear'), and then did two accent colours: white and pink. Pink because it's pretty, and white because of the white rose ( and pink also because i think the white alone would have been a bit boring with the yellow).
I made one recently called 'herb garden' which had lots of different essential oils in it - basil, mint, lavender, rose geranium, marjoram, lemongrass, etc. So I used a ton of colours - lime green, purple, yellow, dark green, teal....

I must admit I tend towards gaudy colours ( I can't help it!)

 

[dmcgee5034]

I don’t think I’m good at picking colors. I did print a color wheel, and I look at color combinations on Pinterest for ideas. I add a touch of neon to a base color when I want it to pop. I usually think about my color choices and then set them out and ponder for a few days and might make some changes before I soap. The struggle is real….

 

[lucycat]

I think color ideas are easier for some than others. I also know that I get better with practice. Since art is always my challenge, I just look at a lot of photos. It helps me realize what color patterns I like as well as well as don't. Most important I see contrasts I would have never imagined, and they are the best inspiration.

 

[Tammyfarms]

I am so happy to read that I’m not the only color challenged person on here. Choosing a color palette is the hardest part for me. I usually start with fragrance and select something that I think matches. I do take a lot of pictures for inspiration and sometimes the fragrance is an EO blend based on the picture.

 

[MelissaG]

I usually let the FO guide me. Today I made a soap using golden Pear and White Rose FO, so I coloured the main part of the batch with yellow mica ('golden pear'), and then did two accent colours: white and pink. Pink because it's pretty, and white because of the white rose ( and pink also because i think the white alone would have been a bit boring with the yellow).
I made one recently called 'herb garden' which had lots of different essential oils in it - basil, mint, lavender, rose geranium, marjoram, lemongrass, etc. So I used a ton of colours - lime green, purple, yellow, dark green, teal....
View attachment 75953
I must admit I tend towards gaudy colours ( I can't help it!)

This is so pretty.

 

[MelissaG]

Choosing a color palette is hard for me for some reason. And sometimes what I think looks good originally doesn't turn out the same way once the soap is made. It can be a bit frustrating. Especially since green has a tendency to morph and sometimes fragrances can change the original color.

 

[Whillow]

I love colourful things, hence the reason I put so many colours in my soaps. I can take a palette of colours from a dress that I like or, I actually made a soap called pool noodles because of the noodles we were using in my sister's pool at the time. I love it. I have Pinterest'ed colour schemes as well when I get stuck. They have lovely combos.

Probably one of my favourite parts of soap making is mixing the micas with a palette knife and then when I cut the soaps. I have had people request certain colours as well, like wedding favours. Matching the fragrance with a colour blend is a good idea as others have suggested already.

 

[Zing]

It's so funny to hear that people choose the scent first, then color. I'm the opposite, color first. For our home, I make soap that matches our bathroom and kitchen. For special orders, I'll ask the recipient for ideas, half the time they say "surprise me." For gifts, I'll use the recipient's favorite color or will match their bathroom. Despite the pain of mixing titanium dioxide, I use it a lot. I used to use a lot of black but now, like our friend @dibbles, a little goes a long way and helps to bring out other colors.

And I do spend a lot of time looking at the color wheel, especially for complementary colors that surprise me initially but look great together -- like fuchsia and chartreuse.

 

[AliensrReal]

I just look online for inspiration. I do have a color wheel that I printed off years ago. I’m more of a pigment and neon girl and love bright colors. I don’t use a lot of mica in cp soap unless it’s a color I have trouble creating myself. I am pretty good with mixing colors to get what I want. I try to match colors to fragrance but sometimes I just throw caution to the wind.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I try to match colors to fragrance but sometimes I just throw caution to the wind.

Now I'm imagining a batch of Lavender soap coloured yellow, or a batch of orange blossom coloured blue, etc

 

[cmzaha]

Like KiwiMoose I let the fragrance determine what my colors are going to be.

 

[AliensrReal]

Now I'm imagining a batch of Lavender soap coloured yellow, or a batch of orange blossom coloured blue, etc

My orange juice soap is black and off White with a hint of gold and my green apple scent is bright pink and blue. Why did I choose those colors? No clue, but I needed to shake things up.

 

[bookworm]

Agree mostly with matching scents to the colours.....then found I was getting lots of brown/tan/red oxide soap as I make lots of sandalwood/oudh types.
So like @AliensrReal , I needed to shake things up. I found lots of people don't like browns, though some don't mind.
As this category of scent appeals to my male customers mainly, I started using shades of teal/blues with the browns.

Sometimes I look at my curing rack & realise I've made mostly pink soaps, so the next batches I will try & use other colours and avoid pinks, even if it best matches the scents.

I have found that no matter the colours you use, and the customers oohing over some soap, ultimately they buy based on scent and not looks.
I have made soap that I think is ugly, maybe the vanillin interfered with the colours or for some reason the colours did not come out as anticipated, but the customes didn't mind, as long as they liked the scent.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Sometimes I look at my curing rack & realise I've made mostly pink soaps, so the next batches I will try & use other colours and avoid pinks, even if it best matches the scents.

Yes! I do the same. I've just done a two pink/yellow and white batches within a week of each other! Thinking now maybe I need to do something green as i haven't used green for a while.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Despite the pain of mixing titanium dioxide, I use it a lot.

Do you pre-disperse your TD @Zing ? I just love having it already made, it’s a big timesaver when soaping and I find I use it up timely since I make small batches. I have a little 4oz squirt bottle and added 2 small stainless steel ball bearing's to it. I make up a batch as needed (2-3 times a year) and after a nice shake, it’s ready to use anytime I need some.